Season start 2025/26 – (Un)gentle Learning

«When the Calabash Breaks»
Tiran Willemse and Melika Ngombe Kolongo (Nkisi)

Rooted in spiritual cosmologies and Afro-diasporic rituals and improvisation «When the calabash breaks» is an encounter between sound as a living force and the energetic dimensions and collective dynamics of movements.

  • Sat 20/09 20:00

    Judith-Gessner-Platz

  • Sun 21/09 20:00

    Judith-Gessner-Platz

Copyright: Susu Laroche

«When the calabash breaks» is a phrase often used in African cultures to signify a significant disruption or loss, usually related to a breakdown in tradition, community, or a key aspect of life. A calabash is a treasured gourd used for storing water and food, and its breakage represents a major loss or disruption to the household or community; it can also symbolize a loss of life or a significant change in someone's life depending on the context. 

This project emerges from the encounter and shared research between dancer and choreographer Tiran Willemse and musician and composer Melika Ngombe Kolongo (Nkisi). When the calabash breaks is rooted in spiritual cosmologies and Afro-diasporic rituals, using improvisation as a transformative and political practice. The sound is intense and layered and acts as a living force capable of affecting time and space, while the movement encompasses energetic dimensions, ancestral memory and collective dynamics. Together they create an experimental ritual performance into an explosive weave of music and dance – crafted for historical and present architecture.

Free entry

Information on accessibility and language

Not language based

Ticket sale starts on 5 July

About the artists

Credits

Supported by

Copyright: Susu Laroche

Copyright: Susu Laroche

Gessnerallee season start 2025/26

The programme focus «(Un)gentle Learning» will take place at Gessnerallee from 11 to 21 September to mark the start of the season. It will explore processes of transition, mourning and learning.

«Stars Are Never Sleeping, Dead Ones and the Living»

Theres Indermaur and Stephanie Müller
11/09 - 15/09
18/09 - 21/09
Room installation

«Fourth Eye, 4.40 AM»
Ceylan Öztrük
11/09, 13/09, 14/09, 15/09
Performance

«Pas Moi»
Diana Anselmo

(in LIS, Italian sign language)
12/09, 13/09,
Lecture-Performance

«Muskeln aus Plastik - a crip-queer reading»
Kay Matter
14/09
Reading

«Neutralitätstheater – The myth of Switzerland on the table!»
Hannan Salamat and Fatima Moumouni
18/09
Talk, Performance

«Sleight of Hand»
Jo Bannon

(in German spoken language)
19/09
Installation, Performance

«Sleight of Hand»
Jo Bannon

(in English spoken language)
20/09
Installation, Performance

«When the Calabash Breaks»
Tiran Willemse and Melika Ngombe Kolongo (Nkisi)
20/09, 21/09
Open-Air-Performance, Music, Dance

«KOMMANDO AJAX»
Cemile Sahin
21/09
Reading

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